Endangered turtles released in Dubai after being rehabilitated.

110 hawksbill turtles were released at Villa beach Dubai on World Sea Turtle Day after being rehabilitated. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00It was a great day in Dubai on World Sea Turtle Day as 110 hawksbill yearlings were released

00:12into the wild at Villa Beach across from the iconic Burj Al Arab. The ongoing turtle rehabilitation

00:18project based at the Burj Al Arab and Madinat Jumeirah aims to rescue, rehabilitate and

00:23release back into the wild any sea turtles that are found sick or injured throughout

00:26the region.

00:27Today's celebration really at the end of the day is a massive thank you, 10 years thank

00:32you to the people of the UAE for supporting our project. Obviously we celebrated the day

00:38with 75 children at Emirati school that have come along and we're really proud of our achievements

00:45to be able to get these young children to come along and first hand see these, it's

00:50a once in a lifetime opportunity to see these animals getting released back to the sea.

00:54We get periods of, at different times of the year we get different turtles, so right

00:57now it's very hot so we're getting large animals, large sea turtles, they're getting

01:02washed up on the shore. Impact trauma from jet skis, boats, ingestion of plastic bags,

01:07fishing line entanglement, all those sort of things. All the turtles you saw released

01:11today came in to us in December and January. In those cooler months these small turtles

01:17which are born as far as Qatar, Abu Dhabi area, they travel along the UAE coast to head

01:24out to the Indian Ocean, but during these months in December and January when the sea

01:29temperatures get down to even 11 degrees, these marine reptiles really struggle with

01:34the cold temperatures. So with that, with the positive buoyancy, with the rough seas

01:39that we have in December and January, these animals when they get washed up on the shore

01:43they're starving hungry, dehydrated, covered in barnacles. This is the end product, this

01:47is really what we kind of worked all those months for really, just to get these animals

01:52back out to sea. Initially the turtles are kept behind the scenes at Burj Al Arab where

01:57they are given intensive examination, veterinary treatment and husbandry support. Once the

02:01turtles are deemed fit, they are transported to the outdoor enclosures to await their eventual

02:06release back into their native environments. Another key focus of this project is to educate

02:10local children, citizens and international hotel guests about sea turtle biology and

02:14the local and global plight of the sea turtle. Logan Fish for Gulf News.